DETROIT (AP) — Michigan officials are investigating a spill of an unknown amount of construction aggregate material into the Detroit River from an industrial site with a history of environmental contamination.
The release happened Nov. 26 at the Detroit Bulk Storage property, Nick Assendelft, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy said Thursday. The company stores and provides material for road construction, according to its website.
A person who answered the phone at the company declined to comment. But Assendelft said the owner told the agency “there was some material that ended up in the river” after an apparent collapse of a dock or shoreline.
The state agency plans to inspect the site from a boat Friday and will use a drone for an aerial view if weather allows, he said.
The site formerly was occupied by the Revere Copper and Brass Corp., which produced uranium parts and was a subcontractor for the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb during World War II, according to U.S. Department of Energy documents.
Assendelft said river sediments in the area are tested periodically.
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman said surveys of the site in the 1980s detected no radiation above background levels.
Featured Image: Industry along the Detroit River, Photo by noaa.gov
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